WHAT DOES A PAYROLL ADMINISTRATOR DO?

Published: Nov 18, 2024 - The Payroll Administrator is responsible for entering employee data into payroll systems, administering paychecks, and addressing payroll errors through thorough review and adjustments. This role involves preparing financial and payroll-related reports for management review, ensuring accuracy in payroll processing, and responding to employee inquiries about compensation. Additionally, they maintain records, handle government remittances, and perform complex payroll calculations to comply with regulations and support organizational needs.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Payroll Administrator

1. Payroll Administrator Duties

  • Invoice Management: Gathering reimbursable information for invoices, processing semi-monthly bill backs by running reports and creating invoices, allocating payroll invoice fees to properly bill back clients for payroll services.
  • Reporting: Creating and sending reports to managers and financial managers every payroll cycle and when requested.
  • Compliance Management: Responsible for Wage and Hour enforcement and training for employees and managers, maintaining compliance with federal, state, and local employment and benefits laws and regulations.
  • Administrative Support: Participating in administrative staff meetings and attending other meetings and seminars.
  • Report Evaluation: Assisting in the creation and evaluation of reports.
  • Payroll Data Management: Entering all pay increases, manager, and other employee changes into the payroll system.
  • HRIS Management: Maintaining Payroll/HRIS records and compiling reports from the database.

2. Payroll Administrator Details

  • Payroll Processing: Ensuring payrolls are processed accurately and on time, in line with statutory legislation and company policies.
  • Payroll Data Management: Preparing, inputting, and processing all relevant data related to allocated payrolls.
  • Payroll Reconciliation: Checking and reconciling allocated payroll output before BACS submission to ensure accuracy.
  • Team Collaboration: Reviewing other team member’s allocated payrolls to meet BACS deadlines and ensure accuracy.
  • Inquiries Management: Handling inquiries from statutory bodies and employees efficiently and professionally.
  • Cross-Department Coordination: Liaising with relevant internal departments to ensure payroll deadlines are met.
  • Support and Assistance: Providing support to the Payroll Manager and team members with additional payroll-related duties.
  • Collaboration & Project Delivery: Working closely with teams, drawing on expertise, and utilizing resources to deliver quality projects across a range of disciplines.

3. Payroll Administrator Responsibilities

  • Payroll Processing: Process payroll in a timely and accurate manner per the company established payroll cycles.
  • Data Management: Enter data changes into the payroll process and maintain all payroll filing, ensuring records are confidential.
  • 401K Administration: Administer 401K employee status changes, including new hires, terminations, and address changes in Fidelity.
  • System Integration: Enter election and loan status changes from Fidelity into Vibe.
  • Employee Support: Assist in resolving routine requests from employees and the HR team efficiently and professionally.
  • Report Generation: Provide standard reports to the finance team and support the payroll specialist.
  • Payroll Mail Management: Sort and distribute all payroll mailings, including scanning to other locations and processing returned paychecks.
  • Compliance and Confidentiality: Ensure payroll policies and procedures are adhered to and maintained professionally and confidentially.
  • Accounting Support: Provide journal entries and backup to Accounting as needed.
  • Expense Processing: Process expenses within company-defined policies and legal statutes.

4. Payroll Administrator Job Summary

  • Multi-State Payroll Processing: Processing multi-state payroll for US employees and a small payroll for Canada.
  • Payroll Garnishment Management: Processing and maintaining payroll garnishments.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Maintaining compliance with federal, state/province, and local payroll regulations.
  • Off-Cycle Check Processing: Processing miscellaneous off-cycle checks, including final paychecks, severance, etc.
  • HR, Benefits, and Payroll Coordination: Ensuring HR, benefits, and payroll changes are processed and completed in a timely manner.
  • 401k Contribution Management: Accurately processing 401k contribution uploads each pay period.
  • Data Integrity Management: Ensuring data integrity between Namely HRIS and Namely payroll.
  • Payroll Troubleshooting: Troubleshooting problems with paychecks, tax deductions, timecard issues, and other payroll-related matters and responding to inquiries.
  • Employee Payroll Support: Responding to questions from employees regarding paychecks, direct deposit, and general payroll inquiries, and handling escalated payroll matters from HR and other internal departments.
  • Process Improvement: Demonstrating continuous effort to improve operations, streamline work processes, and work cooperatively to provide high-quality customer service.
  • Payroll Reconciliation: Knowing how to reconcile payroll cycle over past cycles.

5. Payroll Administrator Accountabilities

  • Data Collection: Collecting data of all new employees.
  • Payroll Query Management: Liaising with staff regarding pay queries.
  • Document Filing: Filing electronic and manual documents.
  • Employee Information Management: Updating and maintaining staff information files.
  • Document Control: Maintaining a proper document control system.
  • Policy and Tax Awareness: Keeping abreast with company policies and tax registrations that may impact remuneration.
  • Month-End Reporting Support: Assisting with month-end reporting.
  • Payroll Communication: Communicating payroll changes to relevant parties.
  • Cafe Sales Calculation: Calculating coffee shop totals and creating cafe statements.
  • Referral Processing: Processing lead referrals and lead statements.
  • Payslip Distribution: Assisting with the distribution of monthly payslips.
  • Report Development: Developing daily, monthly, and ad hoc reports.

6. Payroll Administrator Functions

  • Payroll Processing: Review, process, and maintain bi-weekly domestic and monthly international payroll information for approximately 100 employees in a multi-state environment.
  • Payroll Deduction Management: Verify and process necessary payroll deductions, ensuring timely remittance of 403b retirement contributions and regular reconciliations.
  • Manual Payment Processing: Prepare manual checks, severance and vacation payments, update garnishments, taxes, and direct deposit changes, and process W2 or W2-Cs.
  • Tax Information Management: Maintain accurate and timely quarterly and annual tax information in coordination with ADP.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal government regulations and keeping current with changes in government requirements.
  • Employee Payroll Support: Liaise with staff to answer payroll questions and resolve paycheck issues.
  • Payroll Procedure Improvement: Review and recommend improvements to existing payroll procedures, updating documented payroll procedures as necessary.
  • Best Practices Development: Develop best practices to improve payroll process efficiency.
  • Semi-Monthly Payroll Processing: Timely processing of semi-monthly payroll for 300+ employees utilizing ADP Workforce Now.
  • Payroll Data Management: Prepare and process payroll, including compiling, processing, and verifying necessary information for new employment, salary adjustments, overtime, transfers, and terminations.
  • Timesheet Administration: Administer timesheets and payroll forms.

7. Payroll Administrator Job Description

  • Payroll Setup and Maintenance: Ensuring new starters are set up on the payroll system, leavers are removed, and salary and hours input are accurate, including statutory and voluntary deductions.
  • Payment Processing: Preparation of electronic payments for fortnightly and monthly payroll.
  • Tax and NI Management: Accurate calculation and transfer of monthly payments to HMRC for tax and NI contributions, using RTI.
  • Payroll Reporting: Providing information, analysis, and reports on budget spend, sickness absence, salaries, and other requested reports, while maintaining payroll policies and procedures.
  • Tax and Compliance Advisory: Advising on tax and pay laws, auditing payroll for compliance, issuing tax forms (e.g., P45s, P60s), and supporting with P11ds.
  • Pension Administration: Managing the pension auto-enrolment process and ensuring compliance with legal requirements, including communication with workers as per the Pension Regulator’s requirements.
  • Legislative Compliance: Ensuring monthly and annual legislative returns are made accurately and on time to appropriate bodies.
  • Quality and Accuracy Assurance: Ensuring high standards of quality and accuracy in all activities, including data entry, validation, reporting, analysis, and communications.
  • Task Management: Effective management and execution of multiple tasks, prioritizing workload in line with objectives and deadlines.
  • Budget and Resource Management: Effective budget and resource management, monitoring, and escalating issues

8. Payroll Administrator Overview

  • Payroll Entry: Responsible for entering daily payroll via approved timesheets in SAP.
  • Administrative Support: Performing administrative and clerical duties to maintain accurate records for timekeeping, project controls, etc.
  • Timesheet Verification: Collecting and verifying daily labor timesheets for payroll entry and processing.
  • Time and Attendance Management: Responsible for employee onboarding, offboarding, and daily attendance reconciliations within the Time and Attendance System.
  • Payroll Processing: Performing payroll duties such as verifying and submitting timesheets, audit reports, preparing new employee packages, termination/layoff forms, rate changes, and travel and board calculations.
  • Project Support: Assisting the site manager and superintendents in tracking, analysis, and forecasting of ongoing projects.
  • Shift and Roster Management: Coordinating with the Time and Attendance System team to maintain shifts, rosters, etc.
  • Document Filing: Maintaining a filing system for payroll documents in accordance with auditing procedures.
  • Employee Records Management: Maintaining documents for employee information, including labor qualifications, certifications, and training.
  • Project Controls Support: Assisting Project Controls in tracking, monitoring, and analyzing productivity data and project costs where applicable.

9. Payroll Administrator Details and Accountabilities

  • Financial Reporting: Preparing financial reports for accounting and reports to be reviewed by management.
  • Payroll System Management: Entering information into the payroll system about employee taxes, exemptions, transfers, firings, and resignations as details change.
  • Payroll Administration: Administering paychecks, deduction summaries, and earnings statements with external payroll companies for staff across different countries.
  • Data Accuracy Review: Evaluating the accuracy of submitted payroll data weekly and contacting supervisors or employees when discrepancies arise.
  • Employee Data Management: Creating new data files for new employees and submitting hiring paperwork into the system to set up payroll accounts.
  • Payroll Error Resolution: Responding to payroll errors by reviewing past records and making wage corrections or adjustments when necessary.
  • Absence Tracking: Tracking employee absences through payroll software and recording details.
  • Employee Payroll Support: Answering employee questions about payroll, leave amounts, tax forms, and other compensation issues.
  • Leave Entitlement Management: Maintaining records of employees' leave entitlements such as vacation, sick time, banked time, maternity, and workers' compensation.
  • HR Reporting: Providing Human Resources with monthly compilation reports.
  • Government Compliance: Preparing reports and remittances required by government agencies.
  • Payroll Calculations: Performing calculations such as overtime averaging, severance pay, retroactive pay, leave without pay, end-of-season bonus, gross up, etc.

10. Payroll Administrator Tasks

  • Payroll Ownership: Taking full ownership of the Northern Ireland payroll.
  • Payroll Processing: Processing the payroll every week using Sage50.
  • Timely Updates and Checks: Ensuring all necessary updates are done on time, followed by checks.
  • Paycheck Accuracy: Conducting the correct rate of paychecks regularly.
  • Employee Records Management: Keeping track of personal files and ensuring all necessary documentation.
  • CJRS Administration: Administering the full cycle of CJRS.
  • System Maintenance: Maintaining and updating computer systems, including Microsoft packages, Sage50, and TMS.
  • Time and Absence Tracking: Processing hours, recording absences, holidays, etc., on Sage Payroll and taking appropriate action.
  • Payroll Support: Answering staff payroll queries in a professional, timely, and proficient manner.
  • Payment Accuracy: Ensuring all payments are processed accurately according to the company schedule.
  • Issue Escalation: Escalating concerns or queries to the Payroll Manager and/or Finance Director.
  • Leave and Holiday Management: Maintaining annual leave and bank holiday records.
  • Payroll Administration for Multiple Units: Providing payroll administration services to a number of Avoca’s stores and business units in ROI.